And so the story was for Rockford Lutheran and its senior leader Friday evening during a 55-52 loss to Normal University in a Class 2A boys basketball state semifinal.

Shortly after the ball bounced sadly off the back of the rim as time expired, Montgomery lay on his back on the floor at Carver Arena, "what-ifs?" swallowing his mind. His 3-point attempt, like many of his shot attempts on this night, simply didn't make friends with the rim.

"I didn't like it because I had to take the last shot and it didn't go in," said Montgomery, who averaged 16.9 points but was held to nine, including one in the first half, Friday on 3-for-13 shooting.

Normal University (27-4) liked just fine that Lutheran's leading scorer had the ball in his hands with the game on the line.

The final play wasn't designed for Montgomery, a 6-foot-5 forward. But desperation set in after Rockford Lutheran's desperate comeback could muster only a short-lived tie early in the fourth quarter.

"The ball ended up in (Montgomery's) hands," Normal U-High coach Bob Fitzgerald said. "I'll roll the dice on that any day of the week."

"I thought his foot was on the line," said Bates-Diop, who had a game-high 16 points and nine rebounds.

After Rockford Lutheran senior Alex Oates' free throw tied the score at 43 with 6 minutes, 21 seconds left, Kurtis Ellis quickly put U-High back ahead with a basket. Kyle Morris followed with a 3. Mitch Styczynski later had back-to-back baskets to make it 53-45 Pioneers before Rockford Lutheran went on a 7-0 run.

"I think when they tied it up with six minutes left, that was the big one," Fitzgerald said. "Six minutes isn't a lot of time, in a game, in a practice, in life. I said, 'Let's just play six minutes.'"

Rockford Lutheran (29-3) trailed 31-27 at halftime and never led in the game.

"It seems like we were one play or one step away from breaking it open," Lutheran coach Tom Guse said.